Results Attained: Preliminary Issues & Justification by Faith

Let’s pause for a moment and take stock of what we’ve established so far.

Looking at the visible universe, we saw strong evidence pointing beyond it to an unseen, intelligent Creator and Ruler. And within human moral awareness, we found an expectation that all people will ultimately be repaid according to their actions. The uneven justice we observe in this life makes it clear that a final and complete reckoning must lie beyond death.

Faith and Works

In The Moral Teaching of Christ we saw that each of the four Gospels presents Christ as teaching — clearly, repeatedly, and without apology — that God opposes all sin and shows favor only to those who obey his commands. And we saw that Paul echoes that same point with equal clarity and force. Yet we also saw something else: both Christ and Paul say, just as plainly, that God welcomes into his favor as heirs of eternal life all who believe the good news Christ announces. Put side by side, those statements can sound like a contradiction — and that tension is what we need to face now.

Because the New Testament teaches both truths so strongly, we cannot accept any “solution” that weakens either one. The first claim is demanded by the supreme authority of the moral law, which will not tolerate any violation of its rights. The second is just as necessary, because only full pardon can meet the deep need of guilty and helpless humanity. So we now look for the underlying harmony between the claims of justice and the message of mercy.

The Gospel of Christ

Our next question is a crucial one: Did Christ Himself actually teach the doctrine of justification by faith — the doctrine Paul so clearly proclaims? Or did Paul, however sincerely, reshape Christ’s message through his own way of thinking and the world he lived in?

Put differently, did Paul truly understand and faithfully represent the mind and purpose of the One whose messenger he claimed to be? And to what extent might Paul’s own background and habits of thought have influenced the way he expressed Christ’s teaching?

Righteousness Through Faith

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, 'The one who is righteous will live by faith.'”  — Romans 1:16, 17 NRSV.   

We now turn, in our search for salvation, to the gospel Paul announces in Romans 1:16. What Paul means here is fairly clear: the good news proclaimed by Christ is the means by which God’s infinite power acts to rescue people — Jews and Gentiles alike — from both the guilt and the grip of sin, provided they believe that message.

Paul goes on to explain this by saying that in the gospel a righteousness of God is revealed — by faith and for faith. He supports this claim by pointing to an ancient prophecy, spoken in the face of looming disaster, which declares that the righteous person will live by faith. In other words, as the gospel is preached, a veil is lifted. Something previously hidden is now made visible: a righteousness that comes from God. This unveiling happens through faith and is meant to lead people into faith. Through it, God’s saving power is released for everyone who believes.